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Welcome to the Capel Golf Club's Course Maintenance Dept. We hope to give an insight into maintenance activities, share up to date course news and course care tips for members, guests and visitors.

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Monday, October 3, 2011

Sorry Just me, cracking open a bottle of Jack's, putting the feet up and appreciating the fact the greens reno is finally done and dusted, ( excuse the pun).

We managed to get the sand on the greens from the past few rubbed in by midday after they dried under heavy skies, and then finished sanding the others, and finally rubbing them all in for a reasonable finish.

It hasn't been the smoothest of Renovations but not the worst, with at first the Hire Top dresser not spreading the sand evenly and breaking down, then of course the rain, heavy clouded non drying skies, wet sand and a delay of 36hrs with sand on 8 greens before we could start rubbing in.

My thanks, to our staff for putting in extra effort, our contractors for being flexible enough to allow us the extra day, and to those players today who turned up thinking reno's was complete and didn't mind playing the 9 holes which were open at the time, your understanding was appreciated.

One effect from the above we will need to be aware of, both from players and a maintenance point of view, is the possible longer turn around time for the greens to be back to a suitable condition as a result of weakened bent grass from being under cover for 36Hrs. Other side effects may include increased bruising of leaf, fertiliser burn, higher susceptibility to disease in the short term than normal and the possibility of an extra light sanding to top up the greens as a result of wet sand and the top dresser applying unevenly making it impossible to judge how much sand was going on hence filling the holes.

After inspecting the greens this evening, I believe we have managed to avoid many of the possible side effects, and they have pulled out of reno very well, however things will become clearer over the next few days.

Preventative fungicide applications will be applied to limit any nasty problems arising.

It is now even more critical that all players take extra care of the greens when playing by following the simple course care tips, in the tip of the month.

That's all for now, Good luck with the putts, and happy ball mark repairing....

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Our fears were realised today when we had to stop Sanding the greens midway through. With forecast for rain and cloud hovering about it was decided to stop the Sanding as a precaution. We started early, with scattered cloud about but with forecast showing showers not till the afternoon, we were confident of getting the sand dried and rubbed in before the rain came. However with 97% humidity, cloud increasing and no wind at all, the sand was staying wet.

Unfortunately, the sand already out has not dried 6hrs after putting out and we are stuck at the moment with sand over the greens as was to wet to rub in. Another effort will be made later this afternoon to get the sand in before rain makes the task impossible. We wait with baited breath, fingers crossed, and hope I won't have to explain the adverse effects if we leave the sand on to long.....

Coring is complete, Sanding will take place at the earliest opportunity hopefully Tomorrow.

Footnote - Just back from the latest attempt and as soon as we started, down came the rain, no hope of getting the sand in, 7mm rain recorded on course so now we wait till tomorrow but not looking great either.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Over the past week the renovation program kicked off with all Tees cored with our Ryan corer,amendments added, the ladies tees sanded and the greens verti cut yesterday.

The Ryan in action

Verti Units having the depths adjusted and prepared

After the previous two glorious days we are keeping a nervous eye on the forecast for Sundays main green renovation day when we want, but don't necessarily get fine clear skies, a hint of rain could throw a huge spanner in the works so fingers crossed.

Over the weekend, weather permitting, we will be Solid Coring, adding soil amendments, sanding, and of course rubbing the sand in. We are allowing a 4 week recovery period, (for the greens that is, not us) before they are back to normal playing conditions.

Next week we will finish sanding the tees, from there the back 9 fairways will be renovated starting 18th October, During this time we will also be coring with our Ryan corer all walk area to tees and green aprons.

Fair to say a very busy period ahead for all staff to kick off the spring summer / season.